It's no secret that Marvel's Avengers has had a rough launch. Between game-breaking bugs, underdeveloped systems, and a lack of end game content, it's evident that most players have bounced off and are waiting for things to get smoothed out. While many of the most devastating bugs have been worked out (over 1000 in the last major patch) the game still hasn't managed to sort out its biggest problem: pinnacle activities.
Pinnacle activities are the end of the end game, the actions that hardcore players grind to get the very best unlocks when they're done leveling up and maxing out their gear score. Most people will never bother to reach this point, but for daily players and "hobbyists", these are the most important activities in the game.
Every live service game will experience an ebb and flow in its player base. New content and seasonal events will guarantee that a deluge of players come back for a short amount of time every so often. While these bursts of renewed interest are essential for the overall health of the game, the smaller group that never stops playing is just as important. These people keep the game alive and, overall, spend the most money on microtransactions. It's essential that these players have something to chase; a reason to keep playing every day. This is the pinnacle activity.
In Avengers, the only pinnacle activity available at launch was Elite Heroic Hives. These missions were the only way to earn exotic gear, the rarest and most powerful equipment in the game. The drop rates are incredibly low and the missions are lengthy — exactly what you would want from a pinnacle activity.
Just unlocking these missions takes a significant amount of effort and dedication. By the time you've finished the mission chain to access them, you're likely at max level and close to the soft cap on gear. You and your friends would be prepared to tackle these elite missions together... if they weren't single-player only.
That's right, after dozens of hours of multiplayer grinding in this co-op live service game, the pinnacle activity is single-player only.
Two weeks after launch a new mission type was introduced. These missions, called Mega Hives, are weekly quest chains that also have a chance to drop exotic gear. They are also single-player only.
Crystal Dynamics has promised that multiplayer Raids and some kind of pinnacle weekend activity called AIM Secret Labs are still coming, but it's been a month now and I stopped playing the day I discovered that the end-of-the-end game activities are single-player. All my homies hate single-player.
I can understand that a lot of content wasn't ready for launch, and of course, a game like Avengers needs to space content out over time. I just can't help but be baffled at the decision to hold back multiplayer content that would have undoubtedly kept my friends and I (and many others, I imagine) playing the game.
Even if I wanted to do these 40-minute solo missions for a chance to get an exotic, I wouldn't bother because the game still has major problems with crashing and soft-locking. Elite Heroic Hives are 14 floors and if the game crashed on floor 11 you're screwed. If no enemies spawn on 13 you're going to have to start all over. Both of these things happen constantly.
A loot grinder needs a good grind and Avengers doesn't have one. Getting to the soft cap is a strange experience because it doesn't matter what activity you do, everything rewards you with a power-up. That power-up will be replaced in the next mission with a new power-up and so on until all of your gear is at 140. After that, seeking out exotics seems like the best way to grind while passively collecting crafting materials to boost gear to 150. Unfortunately, grinding solo isn't very fun.
I don't understand why Avengers doesn't have a multiplayer pinnacle activity yet, but I'm not coming back to play until it does.